Well, you guys seemed to like the 2-ton Beebe winch I posted about, so you’re gonna love this: It’s the 5-ton big brother to the 2-ton. I was cruising eBay looking for a beater one to use for parts and maybe get the correct handle. Naturally, I got sidetracked and started looking at all the winches that were up for sale. I came across this monster which was, at $550, the cheapest one in good condition that was for sale. I had discovered that while you may find these things online at reasonable prices (although often they are wildly unreasonable) the shipping absolutely queers the deal. Shipping? $372. I mentally shrugged and was about to move on when I noticed that the listing said this thing was sitting in Corvallis….well, thats about 40 miles down the road. I’ll drive 40 miles to save $372…especially if I can get a better deal. So I contacted the buyer and asked if they’d take $300 and could I come pick it up. Yes to both, it turned out. And, in fact, they were passing through Missoula on their way somewhere for the weekend, so they actually dropped it off here in town for me. Sweet!

How does it compare to the 2-ton? Well, for one thing, its more than twice as heavy. As for size, here you go:

I’m thinking of how best to use this thing. It weighs about 150# so portability is a bit of a challenge. What Im thinking of doing is mounting it on a flatbed cart and using that to haul it around. Chain the winch to a tree as an anchor and all the stresses and weight goes into the chains around the anchor and the platform takes no strain at all. Need to give it some more thought. 

But, its a really neat piece of machinery from ‘back in the day’. I’m looking forward to spooling some cable on it and seeing what kind of mayhem I can create with it.